Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Feeling Hopeful: Reflections of the Inspiring March for Our Lives Event
I arrived late to the March For Our Lives event last Saturday. Traffic and errands kept me from being on time, and I couldn’t even find the person I was supposed to meet there. Still, it was inspiring. Let me back it up here for a second. If you haven’t been paying attention, the March…
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Report: Tougher Drug Laws Don’t Reduce Overdose Deaths
A new nationwide study finds that putting more people in jail for drug offenses doesn’t reduce drug use or overdose deaths. On Monday, President Donald Trump called for harsher sentences– including the death penalty for drug traffickers– to combat the opioid epidemic. Jake Horowitz, director of research and policy at Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety…
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Housing Justice Activists Rally to Support Jim Brooks Act and Keep Tenants From Eviction
Over 150 people took to the streets of Roxbury on Saturday, March 17 to stand in solidarity with tenants facing eviction in the area, and to urge a state house vote on the Jim Brooks Act which would potentially curb housing displacement in Boston. Despite the rally’s large attendance and political support, the Massachusetts General…
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Boston Mothers Who Have Lost Sons Speak Out Against Police Brutality
Photos by Daniel Friedman In 2005, “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” was published by Dr. Joy DeGruy. Last Monday, Rahimah Rahim referenced DeGruy’s work as she spoke about the loss of her 26-year-old son, Usaamah, killed by members of the Boston Police Department in 2015. “When we commit or we think we’re committing a negative act such as…
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Understanding Why Societies Emphasise the Difference Between ‘Migrants’ and ‘Refugees’
Two years have passed since the outbreak of the ‘refugee crisis’. ‘The migrant crisis’ is an expression that European and domestic officials use to describe tens of thousands of suffering people who are surviving in inhumane conditions in refugee camps, attempting to shown them as a group of enthusiastic travellers, in search of a better…
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As ICE deports higher numbers of Asian immigrants, a Dorchester family is left without a mother
Robert Sparks with his and Nhan’s three children. Photo: Anna Bloxham Robert Sparks and his wife Nhan, a green card holder and native of Vietnam, left their Dorchester home to attend a meeting with ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement – at an office in Burlington, Massachusetts on October 2. This was one of several…
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Boston Takes to the Streets to Show Solidarity With Student Led ‘March For Our Lives’
On March 24, thousands marched from Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury to Boston Common for March for Our Lives, a rally held worldwide to protest gun violence following the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Leonor Muñoz, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student, stood alongside her sister,…
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Bike Share Program Offers Discounts for SNAP Participants and Those in Other Programs
This past January Hubway, Boston’s bike share system, announced a new discount program for low-income EBT card holders to participate. The Department of Transitional Assistance, which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Motivate, the operator of Hubway, launched the “SNAP Card to Ride.” Hubway was started in 2011 by the late Boston Mayor…
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Treat Homelessness Like the Health Issue It Is
Last spring a group of students, led by their Professor Dr. Debra Harkins, came up with Bill H.3933, which is based on an idea out of Hawaii that says homelessness should be treated as a medical condition; this could allow doctors to write prescriptions for housing. I know, it sounds far fetched, but when you…
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BAKER’S MASS MEDICAID PURGE
The envelope arrived in my mailbox a couple of weeks before Christmas. It had a green stripe at the top and in big bold letters alerted me that I needed to open it immediately. Inside the envelope, I found a letter letting me know that my health insurance under MassHealth—which is the Massachusetts Medicaid program—would…
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